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The Amazing Race Canada debuts: Are the teams too nice?

By Bill BriouxSpecial to the Star

Tues., July 16, 2013

Are Canadians just too nice to play The Amazing Race?

That was one impression from Monday night’s premiere of CTV’s The Amazing Race Canada. These reality shows are all about casting and while there were some fun and diverse choices, missing was a team one could identify as the obvious villains.

Twins Treena Ley and Tennille Dorrington are hugged by cowboys Jamie Cumberland and Pierre Cadieux during the July 15 premiere of The Amazing Race Canada. (BELL MEDIA PHOTO)

That might have been solved easily by casting a team from Toronto. The rest of Canada would automatically root against two players from Hogtown. Think if the Ford brothers had been cast, this show would have written itself.

The teams on Monday’s debut actually rooted for each other and offered encouragement, something you don’t see too often on the American version.

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If there were any bad guys in Episode 1 it may have been Brett Burstein and Holly Agostino, married doctors from Montreal. Their “total focus, eye on the prize” philosophy was that much more aggressive than the other players’ and it helped them power through to a second-place finish in the opening leg.

Beating them across the first finish line were the kayaking hippies, Kristen Idiens and Darren Trapp. The dating couple from B.C. are young and athletic and seemed totally cool with whatever the Race threw at them. They won a couple of Express passes for crossing the finish line first — one of which they can give to another team — plus a trip for two to Sydney, Australia: one of the dazzling prizes offered on The Amazing Race Canada. Hippies rule, man!

For years, Canadian game and reality shows have been mocked for their cheap prizes, but not TAR Canada. Instead of free slacks or a trip white-water rafting down the Ottawa River, the ultimate winners take home a quarter of a million bucks plus Air Canada tickets to anywhere plus two Chevy Stingrays.

Third place in the opening leg went to Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod, sentimental favourites as the original ParticipACTION couple. The married “Body Break” fitness icons had fun their first time out, with McLeod even shouting out, “Until next time, keep fit and have fun!” as she leapt off a girder into a canyon.

Other couples singled out Johnson and McLeod as the celebrities.

“My cousin has been you for Halloween,” Johnson was told. The couple worried that their celebrity status might put a target on their backs.

Tasks assigned to these teams were definitely not for wimps. The couples had to dive into lakes looking for “Ogo Pogo,” and reach into boxes with rats and snakes to fetch instructions.

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The series began in Niagara Falls, an apt choice as a scenic wonder of the world. The first stop was the Butterfly Conservatory, with other parts of the show playing like an infomercial for Travel Ontario.

Some casting played up stereotypes. Jamie Cumberland and Pierre Cadieux are gay cowboys from Alberta. They hoped to stay under their radar. “Everybody loves a gay cowboy,” one declared.

Downplayed was one of the most frightening pit stops in all of Canada: Pearson Airport. Little time was spent there, which most travellers could never claim.

For some viewers, the news that The Amazing Race Canada was not going to be an around-the-world adventure was an immediate Road Block. Why settle for a local race when you can watch the international deal?

Monday’s debut demonstrated that no country on Earth has the variety of vistas we enjoy within our own vast boundaries. Besides Niagara, Kelowna, B.C., was featured on the first episode.

Already alliances have formed. The first four couples to reach the airport formed an alliance, agreeing that whoever wins the first leg would share the second pit stop Express Pass with whoever came second. That would be the hippies and the docs.

Crossing a trestle over a deep gorge was a challenge for all the participants. Ottawa sisters Vanessa Morgan and Celina Mziray looked like they’d be in trouble when Morgan freaked out. She got over her panic, however, and leapt into the gorge.

Much was made before the premiere of how Jon Montgomery was going to be a very active host. The Olympic sledder was going to demonstrate, not just narrate, we were told, and viewers probably expected to see him gulping down big jugs of beer at every pit stop. We did see him — briefly — jump into the gorge, but otherwise Montgomery was not onscreen all that much.

Two teams raced proved Race-worthy despite serious disabilities. Tim Hague Sr. didn’t let Parkinson’s stop him from walking the plank and jumping the gorge, bringing tears to the eyes of son Tim Jr.

Another guy who made the jump was Jody Mitic, a former army sniper paired with his brother Cory. Jody lost both legs below the knee stepping on a landmine in Afghanistan. His walking the plank and jumping the gorge brought tears of pride to his brother’s eyes.

Also competing were muscle-bound best friends Jet Black and Dave Schram, both from London, Ont., who came fourth in the first leg.

Coming last and eliminated were twin sisters Treena Ley and Tennille Dorrington. Full of spunk and personality, the Hamilton participants nevertheless were beset by directional challenges, getting lost in cars, planes and jet skis.

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